


Network Love

by vernoope



Category: Free!
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Fluff, Long-Distance Relationship, M/M, Post-Canon, there's no plot just an excuse to write fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-23
Updated: 2020-08-23
Packaged: 2021-03-07 01:47:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,881
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26058952
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vernoope/pseuds/vernoope
Summary: Haru really misses his boyfriend, Rin is stubborn and Skype is not the greatest tool for lovers to talk online.
Relationships: Matsuoka Rin/Nanase Haruka
Comments: 5
Kudos: 39





	Network Love

**Author's Note:**

> So this is my first work ever here on AO3 and I hope you guys enjoy it! I love rinharu a lot and this fic was completely forgotten on my google drive so yay here it is!
> 
> Title is Seventeen's song (very nice song you should go listen to it)

“Haru, this isn’t working! Your face is just a blur image!” 

For the fifth time in the last ten minutes, Haru listened to his boyfriend’s complaint, sighing afterwards and resisting the urge to roll his eyes. The laptop’s screen was showing off Rin’s face as a purple and red blur, and what would probably be his arms shaking in a slow motion action. It’s not the first time they try to talk to each other using technology ㅡ for God’s sake this isn’t the stone age after all ㅡ, however it’s their first time using Skype for conference calls. At first, it seemed like a good idea since phone calls are expensive and text doesn't fulfill the longing for each other’s faces, but after almost ten minutes of Rin snapping every time he can’t see Haru’s face, the boy is starting to reconsider all of his life’s choices.

Skype was Rin’s idea and he even sent Haru three hearts emojis ㅡ which is so much more than he’s used to do on a daily basis ㅡ to show him how much he wanted it, the boy bugged him for almost a whole week before Haru reluctant acceptance of his fate, promising a special selfie if he agreed (It’s not like he did it for the smiley selfie Rin has sent seconds after, his shark like mouth opened up in a smile so wide that Haru’s heart jumped inside of his chest, but maybe it played a good part in his decision). However, now the whole plan seems like a stupid wasting of time and instead of watching his boyfriend, Haru was only looking at pixels and a 420p image of what’s meant to be him. 

“Can you see me?” Asked Rin for what felt like the twentieth time “I can’t see shit I hate this stupid notebook”

“Your idea was stupid” Haru answered getting himself comfy between his sheets, his head buried in a soft pillow while his laptop was balanced in his tummy.

Even without clearly seeing Rin’s face, Haru could listen to his protests and a sweet smile started dancing in his lips. The blur icon that was Rin’s Skype image couldn’t do him justice at all, but Haru’s imagination could and his mind was all memories of the boy’s red cheeks and shy gaze ㅡ because that’s Rin, the real Rin ㅡ, making him miss the other even more. Which was totally not the objective of this thing.

It was late and the bright light from his notebook was the only source of illumination he had, yet Haru wasn’t feeling sleepy, just comfortable enough to chill before sleep. On the other hand, Rin couldn’t stay still for the sounds of sheets and constant whining about the webcam’s quality, and even though Haru felt upset with this whole situation, something about it made him feel warm. Maybe it was Rin’s presence ㅡ so close yet so far ㅡ and how much he was willing to make this all work, they work. At the beginning, Haru had his doubts about this whole ‘long distance relationship’ thing and it was only fair that, after everything they went through, he trusted Rin in all of this.

Truth be told Haru couldn’t imagine his life without the other boy anymore, the years of guilt and longing until they finally met again was already enough, and he didn’t want to go back. Couldn’t go back. It’s not an overstatement saying that Rin made him see things that he never saw, and change for the better because if it wasn’t for him maybe Haru wouldn’t have been brave enough to trace his own path, or even find where he truly belongs to. Rin made him see the world so it was only fair that Haru share it with him.

“Stop moving around so much and try to restart your webcam” Haru told him not waiting for a reply as he follows his own instructions “I think it will work better this time”

“Hey, Haru!” Protested Rin as the other boy turned off his webcam “Ok, I will do it geez can’t you wait a minute?”

The boy proceeded to do as he was told to and ㅡ because God was merciful and probably felt sorry for Haru ㅡ this time, when they reconnected their webcams, he could see Rin’s cheerful face and large smile. It was kind of silly how his heart jumped on his chest and he could feel his own lips curving into a smile, however Haru loved this. He loved how every single detail of Rin was already familiar to him, or how much joy a single laugh of his could bring. Haru wanted to tell him all of this, shower him with love and adoration because Rin deserved every sweet word in the world and nothing less. 

“See? It’s better now as I told you” Haru said instead, not because he couldn’t bring himself to speak but because those words were special and Haru wanted to say them all at the right time.

“Yeah whatever” The other boy answered, a blush visible in his cheeks “So how was your day? I bet you’re training a lot more now”

“The pool here is beautiful and the water was nice, like a warm embrace… If we weren’t talking right now I’d probably go there”

Haru watched as Rin made “the face” ㅡ which consists of frowning and raising an eyebrow while looking like a lost child ㅡ and held his laugh, Rin was adorable and it was endearing to watch him.

“There you go again saying weird things about water”

“What? Are you jealous?”

“JEALOUS?” Screamed Rin while getting closer to his webcam “WHY WOULD I FEEL THIS WAY?”

Haru couldn’t hold his laughter any longer, it was times like these that made him love Matsuoka Rin so much. This was the real Rin: a silly and shy boy whose heart was gold and, luckily, he was the one chosen to hold it. 

“So can I go swim now?” Haru asked, receiving only silence as an answer.

He watched as his boyfriend ducked his head and pouted, almost like a child whose mother told him to stop playing because it’s bedtime. 

“Do you want to?” Rin asked with puppy eyes “It’s ok if you don’t wanna talk to me or-”

“Rin, stop” Interrupted Haru almost rolling his eyes because god Rin could be so stupid sometimes “Of course I wanna talk to you, don’t you know? I love you, Matsuoka Rin”

The words slipped so easily through his lips that when he noticed, his cheeks were already scarlet red. Loving Rin was so easy that most of the time Haru couldn’t control his actions and emotions, it wasn’t like him to speak his feelings so freely like that. Still his boyfriend could bring down all his walls like they were nothing, which was kind of terrifying and amazing at the same time, but always made Haru feel vulnerable. His love for Rin was unpredictable and also one of the reasons why their relationship worked so well: he tried his best to change into a better person, a person who was able to speak their mind without regrets because of him.

“Haru, I-” In the middle of his sentence, however, both of them were surprised by the low quality videos on the notebook’s screen, which brought back Rin’s past anger “I can’t believe this shit, Skype, we were in the middle of something here? I was telling my boyfriend that I love him!”

“You just told me”

“Still I wanted to see your face while I said that” The boy responded angrily “Now I only see pixels! Stupid notebook!”

This time, Haru covered his face with his sheets to laugh because Rin would probably start a riot if he saw him laughing at his face again, so while the other boy was throwing a tantrum, Haru waited comfortably in his bed. He could already feel his sleep gradually arriving by the way his eyes felt heavy, but Haru didn’t want to sleep just yet. Not now that Rin was saying all those cute things he usually felt so embarrassed about.

“Haru, I’m restarting my webcam you should do it as well” Rin said turning off his camera only to be a blur image once again when he turned it back on “Why is this stupid app not working properly?”

“Maybe it’s tired of listening to your child complaints” 

When Rin sighed, Haru knew he had won. Even though he wanted to watch his beautiful boyfriend while talking, that was an useless fight and he knew how stubborn and insistent Rin could be, so before he could break his notebook or something, it was better just accept the cameraless world they were faded to. 

“It was nice seeing you being cute and complaining a lot though” Said Haru and even without being able to see his boyfriend, he knew it made him blush like a teenager all over again.

“I’m not cute… I’m cool”

“Sure” Answered Haru with a muffled laugh “So what does the coolest guy want to do now? I am already feeling sleepy”

He could listen to the sound of Rin turning around in his bed “It’s late and I have training tomorrow morning, I believe you do too, Haru”

“Not really a training but I won’t skip a chance to swim” 

Rin laughed at this, the sound was like a beautiful melody for Haru and made him feel warm inside. All his worries faded away while he was melting in the feeling of comfort his boyfriend was able to give him.

“Yeah, it looks like something you would do” Rin replied and, after a pause, added: “I really enjoyed today’s call… Even with all the problems it was nice watching blur Haruka”

“I’m always happy to help” 

“Hey, Haru” The boy called, his voice almost a whisper “I miss you”

It’s not like Haru didn’t know this ㅡ after all, it was the reason why the whole video conference attempt happened in the first place ㅡ but listening to Rin saying it out loud was different, it made him tingle and warm at the same time. It made him remember why he fell in love with Rin.

“I miss you too” The words almost weren’t enough for him to express the yearning he felt, the way that when Haru closes his eyes to sleep, his last thought is Rin's smile as he wins a race. In moments like these, the distance between them seemed so much bigger than it actually was ㅡ he hated that. “Are you with your pillow?”

“Yeah, don’t you dare laugh”

Haru smiled at how cute Rin was while promising “I wouldn’t, but I’m really sleepy right now”

“It’s okay” His boyfriend replied and Haru could sense the boy was already falling asleep as well “Sleep well, Haru”

“You too” Whispered Haru “I love you, Rin”

The embarrassment was clear when Rin answered in a low voice:

“I love you too, Haru”

(After this they started to use discord calls and zoom meetings which, surprisingly, worked so much better than Skype and Haru could finally spend time looking at his boyfriend instead of listening to him complaining).

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading my fluff non sense! Kudos and comments are always welcomed <3 
> 
> Also skype sucks


End file.
